Indonesia parliament passes law aimed at resolving land conflicts

JAKARTA, Sept 22 (Reuters) – Indonesian lawmakers passed into law on Tuesday a provision aimed at resolving land conflicts across the country, setting up a government body under the president to undertake such tasks.

Here are the details:

• The law maps out agrarian reform priorities to address inequality in land ownership and control, agrarian conflicts, abandoned land, and poverty, said member of parliament Iman Sukri in a streamed hearing.

• An agency to address agrarian reforms will be set up and report to the president, responsible for land planning, land monitoring and resolving agrarian conflicts, Iman said.

• The law will also ensure equal distribution of land ownership by limiting the size of holdings, Iman said.

• The law “answers the roots of agrarian inequality that has not been resolved completely,” Iman said.

• Reuters could not immediately see contents of the law.

• Nusron Wahid, an Indonesian minister overseeing agrarian affairs, said in the same hearing that the government will formulate technical details such as maximum and minimum limits of land ownership.

• “The government hopes that with a stronger legal foundation, small farmers … fishermen, Indigenous people, and disenfranchised communities … can feel the state’s presence through a just agrarian reform,” he said.

• Conflicts over land ownership are related to overlapping claims over forest areas, state assets, and private land, often involving local communities, private sectors, and state-owned companies, Nusron has said.

• Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has ordered the seizure of land from miners and companies authorities said violated forest utilisation rules.

(Reporting by Bernadette Christina and Stanley Widianto; Editing by Toby Chopra)